Mods
FTL: Faster Than Light has a small, though active modding community. Modding FTL is relatively easy and limited, however it allows for a great deal of customization. A comprehensive and up-to-date list of all mods on the official forums can be found in the Master Mod List thread on the official forums. Developers' Stance and Modding History FTL devs have referred to modding as "unexpected" and have said that it is unlikely FTL will ever support mods in any way. Nonetheless, the developers decided to allow the modding community a home at the official forums, where most mods are released and discussed to further improve them. The only condition placed upon modders is that redistribution of the game's archives is prohibited, which coincided with the creation of Grognak's Mod Manager, and led to the community adopting .ftl as the standard mod distribution format. That's because originally mods were distributed by modifying the game's files, and then putting them up for other people to download. This was a very crude and inconvenient approach, as the game's files are roughly 166 MB in size. Also, it was not possible to have multiple mods installed, without modifying the files to include those mods. It is easy to understand that messing with game files can quickly make the game totally unplayable. That's why shortly after FTL's release, a forum user named Grognak released a mod manager - Grognak's Mod Manager, GMM for short - and developed the .ftl format. This allowed mods to not only shrink their size considerably, but also to have multiple mods installed at the same time, as well as install or uninstall mods at a moment's notice. GMM has been serving the community well for over half a year, however its development has stopped at version 1.7, which was still plagued by multiple bugs. Recently, one of the people who maintained GMM after Grognak became inactive, a forum user named Vhati, has developed a new mod manager called Slipstream Mod Manager (SMM), which is a direct successor to GMM. Installing Mods Mods are distributed in the form of .ftl files by standard. In order to install these mods into FTL, one has to use a mod manager - Slipstream Mod Manager (SMM) is the currently supported program. Step by step: # Install mod manager #Run the mod manager #Select mods you wish installed, hit Patch, wait for the process to finish #Run FTL If the mods contains no errors the game should start without any problems. It is important to note that the first mods created were released before the "Advanced Edition". Occasionally, mods may cause the game to crash - either during loading, inside the hangar, right after pressing Start button, or during a session - this is caused either by errors in the mod itself, or multiple mods being incompatible with each other. There are also mods meant to be used along with other mods, so it is always strongly recommended to read the description of each file before adding it to FTL. Mod Types Mods can be roughly classified in three different types: *'All-around': the mod changes many aspects of the game such as weapons, events, ships, crew members, enemies, backgrounds, etc. *'Single aspect': the mod is focused only on one feature among those described above. *'Inner data': the mod changes something specific without modifying the gameplay. An example is a bigger crew's name list, or changing the abilities of one xeno race. Some remarkable mods: *'FTL Captain's Edition' (current version 1.285): a complete new game. It has so many features that a dedicated Wikia was created. Often named "FTL CE". *'FTL Supremacy' (current version 1.0.1): a huge total game overhaul and rebalance, including tougher enemies, a much stronger flagship, an optional cheat system add-on, and much more. *'A Strange New Galaxy' (current version 1.0): this mod replaces almost everything with hand-created stuff: ships, weapons, alien races and much more. *'NTL: No Time to Lose' (current version 1.0). This mod heavily penalizes the player who pauses the game; it also minimizes most of every events' text but also removes some scenarios. *'Better Planets and Background '(current version 1.3.1): featuring real photos taken with NASA Hubble telescope *'Extended Pursuit Indicator' (different versions available): it displays, with different setups, the advance of Rebel Fleet in your sector. *'Blueprints Weapon Crafting' (current version 0.01b): this mod allows you to create a weapon starting from an event-obtained blueprint. FTL CE required. *'Shiny! UI Overhaul and Graphics' (current version 1.0): this is a graphic mod. There is also a FTL CE version available. *'C&C Weapons Pack' (current version 3.4): this pack adds several new weapons, based on the Command & Conquer universe. *'Go ballistic! Weapons pack' (current version 1.2): this mod makes several new projectile-based weapons and drones. *'GianTell's Armament' (current version 1.0.8): some very powerful weapons which can really blast enemy ships, especially their crew. It works with other bigger mods too. *'A fourth fleet' (current version 1.0): this Mod changes the Type-A loadouts for all ships, along with a detailed description and icon. *'The Acerbus' (current version 1.2), Blox Boarding cruiser (current version 1.0): the first is an extreme space combat ship, while the latter is the Federation version of any Mantis boarding vessel. *'The Burier' (current version 1.1), The Légionnaire (current version 1.1): two custom ships with special weapons. *'FTL: The Rebel Flagship' (current version 3.0): a mod that adds a rebel ship to the hangar. However, it appears that this mod is no longer under developement) Category:Mods